Transcript: Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s remarks at the interfaith service for Boston Marathon bombing victims at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross

Transcript of Boston Mayor Tom Menino’s remarks on the Boston Marathon bombings at an interfaith service at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on April 18, 2013:

Good morning.

It is a good morning because we are together. We are one Boston. No adversity, no challenge, nothing can tear down the resilience and the heart of the city and its people.

It is written that “hatred steers up the strife but love covers all sins.”

And since the clock struck that faithful hour, love has covered this resilient city.

I have never loved it and its people more than I do today.

We have never loved it and its people more than we do today.

We love the braved ones who felt the blast and still raced to the smoke, with the ring in their ears…[incomprehensible audio] to answer cries from those in need. This was the courage of our city at work.

We love the fathers and the brothers who took shirts off their backs to stop the bleeding, the mothers and the sisters who cared for the injured, the neighbors and the business owners, the homeowners all across this city – they opened their doors and their hearts to the weary and the scared. They said, “What’s mine is yours. We’ll get through this together.”

This was the civic compassion of the city at work.

We never love the heroes who wear their uniforms more than we do at this hour. Boston’s finest in their blue – they carried kids to safety and calmed the city in crisis. The EMTs performed miracles. The firefighters answered the call. We love the National Guard and our service members, who brought valor to our streets. The volunteers in BAA [Boston Athletic Association] jackets, in their vests. The doctors, the nurses, who waited in scrubs and did not buckle as the victims of the grave injured arrived.

This was the strength of our city at work.

We have never loved the people of the world and our great country more for their prayers and wishes.

And yes, we even love New York City more. “Sweet Caroline” playing at Yankee Stadium. Our city’s flag flying in lower Manhattan.

It gives us even more strength to say prayer after prayer for the victims still recovering at the hospitals, at home.

It gives us strength to say good-bye to the young boy with a big heart – Martin Richard. We pray for his sister and mom, his brother and his dad.

It’ll help us to say that we’ll miss Krystle Campbell and celebrate her spirit that brought her to the marathon year after year.

It prepares us to mourn Lingzi Lu, who came to the city in search of an education and found new friends who’ll never forget her.

I’m telling you: Nothing can defeat the heart of this city. Nothing. Nothing will take us down because we take care of one another.

Even with the smell of smoke in the air and blood on the streets, tears in our eyes, we triumph over that hateful act on Monday afternoon.

It’s a glorious thing – the love and strength that covers our city. It will push us forward – will push thousands and thousands and thousands of people across the finish line next year because this is Boston – a city with courage, compassion, and strength that knows no bounds.